Dare Aliu is a prominent figure in the state’s political landscape and respected leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in Akure South Local Government area of Ondo State. He is a strong supporter of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa. His recent campaign efforts and powerful advocacy for the governor underscore his belief that the current administration is Ondo’s best path to progress. In an exclusive interview with Muhammad Abdulwahab,  Dare Aliu  speaks candidly about his political voyage, his alignment with Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and the stakes of the Saturday’s governorship election in the state as well as the chances of the ruling APC vis-a-vis the achievements, vision and campaign promises of the Governor. Excerpt

After the 2015 general elections, which you also contested as House of Representatives candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Akure South/ Akure North, but lost, you became relatively elusive and unavailable. Why and where have you been?

Well, let me first of all thank you for having me and the opportunity given to me through this platform. Well, to the glory of God, I contested.

It was a very keenly contested election because of the atmosphere at that time:  “change, change”. There was clamour for change, and I was in PDP at that time, and I became the candidates of my party. The election was conducted to the glory of God, and the winner emerged. And I congratulated the winner. I called him, my brother, Honorable Afe Olowokere, who won the election on the platform of APC. Then I was still around, I was still very much around. Yes, I went back to the United States to make an alternative arrangement for myself.

But having said that, I’ve been there and I’ve been coming. I came again in 2016 to participate in the governorship election, you know, under PDP at that time. I was supporting somebody else, not that I contested, and we lost the election again. So that informed my decision to sit down and look for some time, you know. So, I was monitoring what is happening at home from there because once politics is in your blood, you hardly walk away. And there is this saying in the local parlance that whoever walks away is the one that loses out.

So I don’t want to be a loser. I’ve never been a loser. If a man does not fall, he will not rise up.

So, you have to fall and rise up again, keep trying, keep trying, and one day it will be your time. So it’s not a do or die affair. If we seek to help people, if we seek to liberate people, if we seek to work for the people, it shouldn’t be a do or die affair.

You know, it’s God that crowns whoever wants to be the king. So I didn’t take anything personal. I take life easy. If I don’t win today, I believe I can win tomorrow. It’s not a do or die thing. If truly, you are really genuine about helping the people, it shouldn’t be a do or die affair. You can help people in other areas, in other structures. You can help people in different ways.

Philanthropism is there. So there are so many ways through which we are helping people.

Now, I came back home again to support the incumbent governor, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa. He’s a man of the people who is trying to see that he alleviates the sufferings of people. We can see it is everywhere. Yes, things are not working well across the country, as planned, as envisaged, but efforts are on ground to fix it, that is very, very important. It’s one thing for people to be going through things and there is not even a sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

But it’s another thing for people to see concerted efforts undertaken by this government, this administration, to see that things come out better for people. Yes, the process may be a bit tedious, you know, very difficult for people, but at the end of the day, nothing good comes easy. At the end of the day, if we persevere, if we endure a little bit longer, I believe the programmes of the present administration will yield positive results. I believe that.

Are you a member of APC or PDP? 

Of course I’m a member of the APC. We formed LACO (Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organization). Prior to the APC primary, when we formed LACO, when His Excellency put together people of like minds to constitute LACO, Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organization. You may recall that I’m still the State Director on Diaspora Affairs, which is an organ to project the image of the state, the personal visions of the governor to international community. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve granted many interviews on TVC station.

I’ve granted an interview where I analysed in a very broad, very clear manner the programmes of this governor, what he has done, what he’s doing and what he intends to do.

What attracted you to governor Aiyedatiwa? What endeared him to you?

Thank you very much for the question. The way all those who contested against him rally around him now, you can see. It must be about his personality.

If he’s somebody who is very arrogant, if he’s somebody who is very irresponsible, you will not see all these wonderful people coming back to work for him. I was with Chief Olusola Oke, SAN, we went to Ore campaigning for him vigorously, for Aiyedatiwa .I was with him. This is true sportsmanship.  So, what attracted him to him? So many things. The way he listens to people, the way he resonates among the youth and the elderly in the state, the way he conducts himself both privately and publicly.  You see, we base our analysis on facts, not on emotions. What has he done to help people? Look at the money he is giving to artisans to help them. The roads that the previous government awarded to contractors, he said, no, there can be no vacuum in government. You have to continue the job you are doing. The job never stops. So people are still working. Contractors went back to the sites . He will look at areas or the sectors, very important sectors where people will feel the impact of government, and he will intervene. These are things that attracted him to me. Look at his good plans and the way he analyses his policies and programmes. Look at his intervention in agriculture, his agri-subsidy, which is helping our farmers.  When he becomes elected again, he will do more to help the farmers and create employment for many people in the state. His intervention in agriculture will bring about multiple effects so much that by two, three, four months, we’ll begin to see this, yielding positive results.

His good economic policy is attracting foreign investors and investments to the state, and this can only manifest if the environment is peaceful. If the environment is secured, that’s the only way. And Ondo State is one of the most peaceful states in the federation. And this is what investors are looking at, peaceful environment, because you can’t invest your money where the security situation is unstable. So, with this peaceful atmosphere, with the humble nature of the governor, and the prevalent economic situations in the state, people will definitely come to invest their money.  And I should let you know, the diaspora community, what they’re looking for is where to put their money, where they know it will be secure, where they know there will be free flow of capital. That’s what is important.

So, when they see the freedom, when they see the security situation in the state, they are already indicating interest. So many countries, I can tell you that authoritatively, so many companies, so many international companies are interested in investing in Ondo State today.

You said you have been propagating the gospel of Aiyedatiwa even in the US, are you his SA in the Diaspora?

I do not need to be appointed before I work for people. All of us cannot get appointments, It’s not possible. You get what I’m saying? At this level, over 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 people will volunteer to work for him. He’s not going to give all of them commissioners, or SA, or SSA.

No, no, no; continuity is key. Being part of the system, if you don’t get something today, tomorrow you will get.

How would you describe the image of Ondo State and the government in the United States?

 Oh, I just told you that Ondo State is viewed, today, as one of the peaceful states in the Federation, with potentials for massive foreign investment. Potentials of massive foreign investment, because they can only invest where there is peaceful coexistence with other ethnic groups.  Peaceful security situations, and opportunities are bound for where people can come, move freely, and do their trading.

You watched the explosive live Governorship Debate on Channels Television that Sunday, some days ago, between the APC candidate and the PDP candidate. How would you rate the performance of the governor and APC candidate?

Let me tell you something, a good product will sell itself. Without being indecent, Ondo State is known for producing the best. We don’t produce inferior, mediocre, or substandard product, no, no, no, no, that’s not, no matter what.  We know things have degenerated, but Ondo State is not known for producing misfit.The two candidates are excellent gentlemen, but what we say is, somebody presented his policies better, you almost feel what he’s telling us. It’s realistic. The way he marshalled his points, that’s so realistic that you could say, okay, this is what I’m going to embrace.  And that’s what matters to us at the international level.

Who among these two? Yes, this one is good. We are not saying they are not good. Ondo State is not known for producing irrelevant, irresponsible people. Ondo State is known for producing the best brains. Who is the person that we can say, let’s put our bet money on? Look at the way he (Governor Aiyedatiwa) spoke, and highlighted his points. The fact of the matter is, as of today, the man that we know can take us to the Promised Land is the present governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

Let’s deviate a bit from our local politics now. Let’s go international,  Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States of America. What will be the impact of his second coming on the economy of the country and the African countries in general?

Well, Trump is Trump and Trump will continue to be Trump. My own opinion, is the international community or the black African community should just put themselves together and look at, is this about interest? Politics is a game of interest. Whoever is the president of America, what interests us is how do we project our interest? What is the need for Africa?  What is the need for Nigeria in Trump’s presidency? What is the need for Africa in Trump’s presidency? That’s our motive. That’s our main objective. It’s not whether we are not interested in who gets what, who can we partner with better that we can get something good for our people? That’s just it. It’s just like us in Ondo State, we made up our mind to support President Bola Tinubu because we believe his policies, his programmes will benefit us. And that was why we went there. And we are in the same party. And we believe we can only get better things for ourselves being in the same party. It’s difficult now. 

I’m not deviating from the question you asked me. Africans must put their brains on the table and look at what is best for them. What can they take out of Trump’s presidency? It’s first of all to understand the man. Then to understand American foreign policy as regards IMF loan, World Bank, World Health Organization, and all that, Paris Club, and other organizations, the European League, that we run to all the time for assistance.

What are the basic things we can get from this administration? And they will go for it. And that’s it. And Africa must unite. It’s not that we do things on an individual level,  no. We have to put our best forward for us to get something, to go and study the man, study the environment, study his party. Do we benefit more from Republicans or benefit more from Democrats? If the answer is yes from Republicans, then let us put machinery in order that can produce, can give us positive results.

Few days to the governorship election in Ondo state, how would you rate APC candidate ahead of the poll?

It’s very high. I don’t deceive myself. It’s very high. Yes, there might be areas where we need to do more, but I can see, I’ve seen, I’ve followed them out on campaigns. I’ve talked to my people as well. I’m back home now to work for him. I can see, you know, we have to support the present governor to continue so that the plans he has for us, what he has embarked on, will translate into positivity in our lives. From artisans to the civil servants to political appointees and to the general public, we know that the only way forward is to support the candidacy of Orimisan, the Lucky governor, to continue where his late boss stopped, to continue and to bring in, which he has done, new innovations. He has his own ideas. He’s a different man entirely. He has his own ideas. And he said, I have plans to make sure my people are out of political doldrums, out of economic crisis. And he’s continuing. We applaud his effort, and support for Amotekun security outfit that has tamed 95 percent of kidnapping in Ondo State. That has tamed insecurity, harassment in Ondo State. So we say kudos to him and we say continue.

So I believe the security situation is working well. Whatever he is doing there is working to the glory of God and to the benefit of those living here and abroad and anywhere they may be. We give glory to God and we pray he continues. I believe 100 percent he is going to win on November 16, 2024.

What is your message to the people of Ondo State as we set for the governorship election on Saturday?

I can only appeal to my people, good people of Ondo State, (0:44) good people of the state, all the citizens, I appeal to you to go out on Saturday on November 16 to vote for the candidate of APC, His Excellency Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, because based on what he has done, based on what he is doing presently, and the way he marshalled his points on the television that day, during the debate. We believe he will take us to the next level. And I know with God’s guidance, we will see the positive impact on everybody